As soon as Félix took his first step into the camp, everyone's breathing seemed to stop, silence took over the place.
No one ran or screamed, but everyone stepped back half a step.
One man pulled his wife back, another adjusted his rifle with too much force, fingers trembling near the trigger. The sound of snow beneath Félix's boots was too loud.
He did not quicken his pace, his eyes scanned the place like someone assessing escape routes, he kept an eye on every armed guard around him. There were two, but he did not know there were more hidden.
— Is it true that they eat people? — Someone murmured.
— Be quiet, he might hear you...
Mikhail stopped in the center.
— He will stay in an isolated tent, he is just passing through and will not disturb anyone.
The murmuring grew.
— You've lost your mind.
— He is an Ash!
— What if he attacks during the night?
Talk and more talk, everyone protested against that risky decision, but Mikhail did not raise his voice.
— If he wanted to kill someone, he would have already done it. — He took a deep breath.
— Besides, he does not belong to Kholm nor to the Nova Brigade.
Félix looked at him suspiciously, at no moment had he said he belonged to any of those groups in their brief conversation.
Mikhail kept arguing with the crowd, the tension only increased. But his attention was taken by a figure who stared at him with contempt, without a single drop of fear.
Alice was standing a little away from the crowd, she squeezed her hands even while feeling a lot of pain from her cracked bones. Félix held her gaze for a few seconds, until Mikhail noticed.
— He will only stay until tomorrow, I promise he will not caus—
— Do whatever you want. — Alice turned her back and went to her tent.
Mikhail sighed again. — She arrived last night, but she has a strong temper, I hope she changes with time.
Félix remained silent, only watching her silhouette disappear into the camp. For a brief moment he wished he could extend that tongue to talk to the girl, or at least manage to ask a few questions.
Both walked to the wooden house in the center, when they entered, some unaware people came to greet the "new member", not knowing what it was about.
— Это новенький на этот раз? — She extended her hand. — Приятно познакомиться, меня зовут Нафили. (Is this the new one this time?) (Nice to meet you, my name is Nafili.)
Félix raised his hand by instinct, but when he realized the act he stopped immediately, Nafili tilted her head confused by the gesture.
— Какая-то проблема? (Any problem?)
Mikhail stepped in front asking them to leave for a moment, they questioned it. As soon as they were informed that he was an Ash, they all stepped back at the same time, left the wooden house through the sides, they did not take their eyes off him for a single minute.
— It seems many people here know people like me.
— Do not blame them, most suffered a lot from Ashes in the past.
— I see...
The interior of the house had nothing special, just a rug and some cushions, it seemed to be a comfortable place to rest after chores.
A little further ahead in a separate room, there were shelves with some medicines. Among them there were many boxes of Axionil, but some were already open, indicating that someone had already taken some tablets.
— Here, I believe it is better to take two at once, isn't it?
Félix remained firm. — They can last a week, but is it enough until I find a nearby city?
Mikhail stared at him. — A week? They are two boxes, I am certain they can last almost two months.
Maybe at some point that would indeed last a long time, but the constant need to ingest Axionil tablets comes at a price.
A body that uses too much of a medication or is constantly tormented by a virus ends up developing immunity, and consequently it ends up no longer being affected.Or at least it becomes less effective.
— Aren't you exaggerating? I know your body is much more resilient than a normal human being, but even so consuming large amounts of Axionil is not good.— It is much worse if I do not take it.
He placed his hand on the back of his neck. — You are young, I understand that you may have a strong temper sometimes, but you should still control yourself.
Félix was confused, he did not understand what Mikhail meant by that. Without wasting time he opened one of the boxes, gathered a handful of tablets in his hand and swallowed them all at once.
The man's reaction was to try to stop him, ingesting so many capsules at once would certainly be suicide. Even for such a resilient body, the overload it would have to endure would be too much to keep up with his regeneration rate.
— Are you crazy!? Spit it out!!
Mikhail grabbed Félix's shoulders, pleading for him to vomit the capsules, but calmly Félix replied:
— Why the concern? It does nothing serious.
— How? — He removed his hands. — Don't you feel anything? No tightness in your chest or burning?
— And I should feel that?
In a human being, the time to digest a tablet can take from ten to thirty minutes. But the body of an Ash is modified to carry out digestion according to the body's energy demand.
Félix had an empty stomach, his body's reaction should have been quick when digesting Axionil, but that did not happen.
— Do you take this without being in combat?
He raised an eyebrow. — Of course, who is the lunatic who takes this in the middle of a shootout?
— Everyone. — He swallowed dryly. — No one takes this as if it were a normal medicine.
Silence followed in the room, Mikhail could not hide his surprise, never in his life had he seen an Ash consume so much Axionil at once.
He picked up two more boxes. — The way you take it, it will not last a week actually.
He hesitated, it seemed like he was about to hand the boxes to a walking corpse, that was all he could think.
— I do not know why you need to take so many, but four boxes is the maximum I can provide.
— Thanks. — He replied dryly.
Outside some camp members were setting up a tent somewhat distant from the rest of the people. It did not have much comfort but it was better than sleeping on the freezing snow.
Mikhail did not believe Félix would try to kill anyone in the camp, but the guards made sure the tent was in a place easy to aim at, so if he tried anything he would be shot without mercy.
— They finished faster than I expected. — He brought his hand to his beard. — If you want, I can provide some dinner to your tent. It is not much, but it is better than nothing.— Can I join you?
Mikhail's reaction was immediate, he did not show signs of being very sociable and now he wanted to join everyone. His first instinct was to ask "Why?", but his question was not answered with words.
Félix stared fixedly at Alice, with eyes so lifeless that they would disturb anyone who saw the scene from afar.
— I could not ask before, but do you happen to know her?
He shook his head in denial.
Mikhail gave a small smile. — I understand, you are young after all, I will not judge your choices because the laws no longer exist, however I hope you understand that—
The purest expression of disgust was printed on Félix's face, even Mikhail interrupted himself.
— For a year Agnis has been tormenting me with this. — He shook his head in denial. — It cannot be her, it has to be a lie...
Sighing, Mikhail gently touched Félix's shoulder from behind. — Sometimes what we need is not what we want. — He took a deep breath. — If you want to have dinner with us, go to the wooden house in the center of the camp in half an hour.
Félix isolated himself inside his tent, checked every part of it to make sure there were no traps. Then he let his body collapse onto that soft fabric, he could have a good nap until the time.
But if he closed his eyes at that moment, he would only wake up the next day.
It did not take long for the smell of something cooking to spread through the air, the large quantity made it easy for the odor to spread to the farthest corners.
But when he left his tent there was no one in the camp, the first thing he saw was a guard armed with a large caliber rifle staring at him.
— I am sure he did not have that weapon before. — He thought.
The only company walking through the camp were the guards, who only did not shoot at Mikhail's request.
He opened the door without prior warning, it creaked with an echo that made everyone's spine tremble.
Everyone stopped eating and stared at him. Some were afraid, others stood up and threatened to flee.
Félix's stern face only worsened the situation, but Mikhail raised his hand.
— Do not worry, he will only eat here today.
Murmurs grew around the table, many lost their appetite.
Félix sat near Mikhail, the people near him made space to avoid touching him, but he did not care about that.
Dinner was potato soup, there was even a little meat, but it was so little they used to say "Only the soul of the meat."
The atmosphere was heavy in the room, no one started conversation or commented on anything. It was clear that Félix's presence disturbed everyone.
But the room seemed to hold its breath for another reason, after all Félix and Alice did not stop staring at each other for a single second.
— Alice, stop... — Dmitri said, tapping her shoulder.
Mikhail coughed to try to draw everyone's attention.
— Did anyone else hear the radio this afternoon? — He intertwined his fingers.
Paf, a middle aged man with one arm missing tried to follow the subject:
— Yes, they went back to telling people to move away from the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. — He took a spoonful. — It seems they are suffering again from biological weapons.
— Yes, they deployed the city with Boreal-C9 to hunt the—
— Is he going to keep staring at me until dinner ends or what!?
The table held its breath, even Mikhail swallowed dryly.
— Alice, now is dinner time, everyone here just wants to eat and go to sleep peacefully afterward.
— Is this a joke? How is anyone going to be peaceful with a lunatic like that at the table? It was you who brought him here!
Elena could not hold back. — Lower your tone young lady! — It sounded threatening.
— Lower it why? It is true! — She pointed at Mikhail. — It was him who brought this suicidal imbecile here, this idiot killed a lot of people at the Barn.
— Alice, calm down... — Anastasia said holding her hand.
— Anastasia, you were there too you saw the chaos he caused!
Félix looked at everyone, the expression on their faces was one of concern.
— What are they saying?
— It is nothing, just Alice and her lack of manners.
Alice spoke louder and louder, some people worried about the escalation of insults and left the dinner table.
Elena snapped:
— Enough!! — She slammed her hands on the table and stood up. — Alice, go outside right now!!!
She stared at Elena indignantly, her magenta eyes widened for a moment in frustration.
But before anyone spoke, Félix calmly stood up from the table.
— Félix...
He only extended his hand asking Mikhail not to insist.
It did not take a genius to understand that the confusion was starting because of him, since the moment he entered people became restless and tense.
— He is a cowardly murderer, I hope he dies in the worst possible way. — Alice said.
Anastasia hit her shoulder for her to stop.
With heavy steps Félix went to his tent, his fists were clenched and his eyes narrowed.
In a mix of fury and indignation he punched a tree beside him, the force of the impact made the trunk explode, knocking the tree down in one blow.
Everyone immediately pointed their weapons at him.
Without trying to explain anything he raised both hands abruptly. He looked at the guards' faces with the same contempt he looked at the girl.
— Why do you look at me like that?
The guard's hands trembled a lot, he struggled to keep his gaze fixed.
Félix looked at the ground with contempt, went to his tent shaking his head in denial.
His mind was in shambles, no matter what path of thoughts he took they all converged to the same point. There would be no way to talk to the people of the camp, and until he gained trust that could take months.
He did not have that much time available, his body gave clear signs with each passing month.
— What was I expecting? A miracle? — He said to himself dissatisfied with the situation he found himself in.
Little by little sleep took over his body. When he closed his eyes he wished from the bottom of his heart for a chance to talk to Agnis, even if only for a brief moment.
When he fell completely asleep, his request was granted.
He opened his eyes on the beach. Everything was as it had always been there, nothing new except the breeze that was colder than normal.
However one curious thing was happening.
Agnis was not on the beach.
— Agnis!!! — He shouted in euphoria.
Nothing, no response came, nor did that sweet voice arise in the background. Maybe she could be in the forest behind the beach?
Taken by emotion he crossed that brush roughly, stepped on the flowers that appeared and destroyed all the vegetation in front of him.
The forest was not very dense, but it was rather long. It took him about fifteen minutes to cross it.
At the end, he saw a large meadow with hundreds of thousands of flowers spreading across an immense field.
All the flowers in the world were there, all the colors too. Some blended in a colorful conglomerate, others followed perfect geometric patterns with at most three colors.
It would be impossible for such a place to arise naturally. It was like a strange dream, no, it was like the dream of a child.
Félix was speechless, all his anger and frustration vanished for a moment.
He took a deep breath and felt his lungs filling with air, the breeze of the field, the earth under his feet.
It felt so much like a dream, at the same time that it was so real.
He kept walking marveling at that place. Some large trees cast shade, as if they were resting points deliberately placed there, the only parts without flowers.
Far away, deep in the background was Agnis with her shining form among the flowers. She seemed to be making a crown with them.
— Agnis!!! — His amazement was taken over by anger.
She did not look, so he had to advance. No matter what he said or shouted, she simply did not care.
Félix grabbed her arm. — Why do you not answer me!?
Finally she turned and looked straight into his eyes.
A strange sensation ran down Félix's spine, he had never touched her with anger before.
— I-I... — He hesitated. — Please, tell me it was not that girl you wanted me to find.
Agnis remained silent, went back to making the flower crown.
— Why her? Why someone like that? She is just a normal human and she is Russian, I cannot even talk to her.
Nothing, silence was the master of that field.
— Say something!!! — He grabbed Agnis's arm again. — Why do you not say anything!!?
Her response was to smile, lowering her head and placing the flower crown on Félix.
— You are late, these flowers will soon die.
— What?
Agnis gently ruffled Félix's hair as one does with a child.
— I understand your frustration, I made you walk a long path to get here, but trust me. Soon, Alice will need you more than anything in this world.
Félix stepped back. — So it is her? Why did you do this?
— When I found you—— Do you know what I went through? I trusted you, I believed you could take this away from me!! — Euphoric he hit his own head. — You gave me a normal person, when I needed someone special she probably does not even know anything about bio weapons or anything like that!
Unconsciously he stepped on and crushed the flowers, his heavy steps marked the ground with footprints.
— I spent the little time I had trusting you, I wanted a cure and you...
Agnis gently touched his face, Félix grabbed her hands to pull them away.
— You do not have little time, that is something in your head.
— Axionil will stop working one day.
— I know, but that does not mean your time is over.
— This will condemn me.
Agnis wrapped her arms around Félix's neck, embracing him completely. Her golden hair floated like the glow of the sun around him. Her light was so intense that it overshadowed all the light of the field, making only that point shine.
— One day you will understand, but until then. — She smiled in relief. — Take good care of her.
[Félix woke up]
BANG!!!!!
The sound of gunshots echoed through the camp, Félix got up with his heart racing. His chest had not been hit.
Looking through a small slit in his tent he saw one of the guards dead slumped against the tree. Several holes were in his chest, blood was still running, it must not have been even a minute since he was shot.
— But it is night. — He thought.
A lightning attack during the dawn while everyone slept, a terrible scenario to be in.
His tent was away from everyone, which would explain why he was still alive.
— What is this!? — Anastasia woke up startled by the shots.
Alice also woke up terrified.
The sound of trucks echoed throughout the camp, a battalion had arrived that dawn.
— Remember what we bet, you are the one who exterminates them, the soldiers will only take care of the guards.
— You do not need to tell me that again.
Natália got down from one of the trucks.
— Are the flanks already positioned? — She said pressing her communicator to her ear.
— Yes ma'am.
— Great, then we can begin.
Natália opened a macabre smile on her face, like a delicate girl she kept her hand on the ear where her communicator was. She slightly tilted her hip, highlighting it from the cape.
— Then we will begin our extermination mission.